Google Pan African Institutions Hails Ethiopia’s Vision to Create Innovation Ecosystem

Addis Ababa: Google's Head for Pan-African Institutions, Pren-Tsilya Boa-Guehe hailed Ethiopia's effort in building up the innovation ecosystem, which aims at empowering young citizens to be more innovative and creative.Pren-Tsilya Boa-Guehe, Google's Head for Pan-African Institutions, commended Ethiopia's commitment to establishing an innovation ecosystem designed to empower its young citizens to become more innovative and creative.In an exclusive interview with ENA, Boa-Guehe expressed her enthusiasm for collaborating with Ethiopia to promote innovation, which she emphasized, is vital for driving sustainable development.She stated that Google is prepared to establish a regulatory and governance framework that will support young people in their innovative pursuits, in partnership with Ethiopia and other African nations.Highlighting the necessity of robust education systems, effective policies, and AI regulations to ensure that young people can thrive, she pointed out that Google is eager to work alon gside government partners, particularly in Ethiopia and across the African continent."The need to develop a type of pipeline of talent that can really show us the potential of our economies across the continent. Therefore, investing in education, creating regulatory frameworks that are strong and encourage responsible deployment of AI and really building regulations that support the whole ecosystem," she underscored.Boa-Guehe strongly advocated for the diversification of the talent pool. During her attendance at Ethiopia's robotics competition on October 4, 2024, in Addis Ababa, she remarked, "I witnessed phenomenal innovative projects focused on agriculture and agricultural precision."'We are striving to enhance African representation in global competitions. We want African youth to participate and showcase innovations,' she added.The objective of this competition is to cultivate the African talent pipeline, ensuring that "we have more innovation that comes from Africa that is exported globally and c an make a difference.'This competition is being organized in partnership with the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the World Robotics Olympiad, and several other collaborators, she noted.Google has dedicated years to this initiative, and Boa-Guehe expressed her excitement to see young individuals at this stage contemplating innovations that align with those being pursued by PhD researchers, scientists, and engineers."They are creating an amazing foundation for an African talent pipeline and for Ethiopia, specifically, a country with 120 million people, it's really critical that we use the young people in this country to help drive some of Africa's innovations.In her comments on Ethiopia's 5 Million Coders initiative launched by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on July 23, 2024, she remarked that coders form the backbone of a digital ecosystem. She described Ethiopia's initiative as truly commendable and expressed hope for its successful implementation, noting that execution will be a critical component.Source: Ethiopian News Agency